Good Monday morning,

If the opening of our new exhibition West of Ninth: Race, Reckoning, and Reconciliation has revealed anything to us, it’s that the neighborhoods of West Louisville have deeply rooted, vibrant stories to tell that challenge assumptions and celebrate the communities of people who live there. It shows both the history of struggle against prejudice and inequality and the resilient spirit of people who have called West Louisville home for generations.

How does where you live affect how you live?

That’s one of the questions we ask in our West of Ninth exhibit guide, but it’s a question each of us can reflect upon at any time, no matter where we live. Of course, we know the places in which we grew up and the neighborhoods we inhabit significantly shape our lives, but we don’t always pause to think about how or why. And we don’t often stop to think about how other places shape people we don’t know.

As I walked through the exhibition myself during our opening weekend, I was indeed prompted to reflect upon the ways a place affects human life, one of them being the existence of parks. Every text panel about a West Louisville neighborhood mentions its local park as an important center of the community activity there at various points in time. Parks provide an essential place to gather and play. They also serve as good indicators of the health of a community. When you invest in a local park, you invest in how people live: the water and air quality, nearby property values, environmental growth and protection, and safe and clean recreation.

Over the past year, our city has recognized the need to invest in West End parks, led by people who want to make a positive impact in their community. There are currently six specific projects in motion that will revitalize recreational greenspaces from multiple sources of funding through multiple organizations, including Louisville Metro, the Olmsted Parks Conservancy, Wilderness Louisville, and many more.

For the next three weeks, Virtual Frazier Magazine will highlight the ongoing parks projects with details about the associated organizations and ways to support, starting with this issue. Read below to find out more about the plans for Elliott Park and Chickasaw Park, in addition to more West of Ninth content, including Victor Sweatt’s community art project panels, recognition for all those who made the exhibit happen, and an interview with Dr. Frank M. Smith on Elijah P. Marrs.

We hope you enjoy,

Hayley Harlow Rankin
Manager of Collection Impact
Frazier History Museum

This Week in the Museum

West End Parks Projects, Part One: Elliott Park and Chickasaw Park

There are so many exciting projects in the works for parks across West Louisville, we had to make it into a three-part series! On September 27, October 4, and October 11, manager of collection impact Hayley Harlow Rankin will share what’s happening where and how you can get involved, two parks at a time. — Simon Meiners, Communications & Research Specialist

Over the past year, Louisville Metro alongside non-profit organizations across our city have recognized the need, now more than ever, to invest our time and resources into revitalizing greenspaces in West End neighborhoods, places where community residents live, play, and grow. Especially during a pandemic, when the ability to spend time outside has become increasingly important to mental health, taking care of our parks so that every citizen has access to a safe, open space is essential.

Elliott Park, Russell Neighborhood

Our first stop is Elliott Park located in the Russell Neighborhood at the former site of Eclipse Park, where Louisville’s historic Major League Baseball teams played until 1892. For the true baseball enthusiasts out there, Honus Wagner hit his very first home run at Eclipse Park, and the Louisville Unions, a semi-pro African American team, played at Elliott Park in the early 1900s. Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and John Charles Olmsted, sons of famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, designed an original plan for the park in 1906; however, the plan didn’t completely materialize in the decades that followed.

The Olmsted Parks Conservancy in partnership with Louisville Metro has officially launched a brand new master plan for Elliott Park at the direction of a community task force including local representatives, community leaders, stakeholders, and residents of the Russell neighborhood to ensure that the renovation of Elliott Park serves the interests of the community. A complete list of individuals involved can be found in the initial pages of the Elliott Park Master Plan.

The master plan, published in June 2021 and available on the Olmsted Parks Conservancy’s website, continues the original vision for the park by establishing tree-lined walkways, a children’s playground, and a concert grove in addition to renovating the basketball courts, horseshoe pits, and seating area with grills — to name a few! Overall, the plan provides an in-depth analysis of Olmsted’s 1908 plan, the current status of park amenities, and public survey results that inform the proposed concepts for significant renovation. The plan “rethinks a community park in a contemporary context… to bring people closer to their environments and each other,” the abstract of the master plan states. The renovation plan builds upon the principles of the Olmsted Brothers’ idea and integrates it with the current needs and lifestyle of the Russell neighborhood.

You can read the entire master plan for Elliott Park here and support the project by contacting info@olmstedparks.org.

Chickasaw Park, Chickasaw Neighborhood

The second park featured this week is Chickasaw Park, located in the Chickasaw neighborhood along the Ohio River. Also designed by the Olmsted Brothers in the early twentieth century, this park has provided a place for the Chickasaw residents to play tennis, fish, and gather for almost one hundred years.

In 1924, the City Parks Commission passed a resolution that segregated parks in Louisville, with many large parks becoming whites-only while Chickasaw and a few others became Blacks-only. Though former Mayor Broaddus officially desegregated the park in 1955, the park remains closely tied to the identity and pride of the deeply rooted Chickasaw community.

The Olmsted Parks Conservancy and Wilderness Louisville are currently raising funds to support a renovation of the park’s lodge and to restore the pond, which will enable safe fishing, canoeing, and play. Wilderness Louisville is a non-profit organization that seeks not only to raise community awareness about public natural spaces, but also to facilitate a number of programs, including Louisville ECHO, which supports nature-based recreational and educational programs for youth of all ages.

This project is in the stage of gathering community input, so you can find and share the survey on the Chickasaw Park homepage here.

You can also support the general efforts of Olmsted Parks Conservancy on their website.

Hayley Harlow Rankin
Manager of Collection Impact

Mural Painting Jam Session With Visual Artist Victor Sweatt

On September 18, to celebrate the opening of its new exhibition West of Ninth: Race, Reckoning, and Reconciliation, the Frazier hosted a jam session at the museum’s Main Street entrance. Guests were invited to paint on four wooden panels, murals created specifically for the exhibition by renowned West Louisville artist Victor Sweatt.

Sweatt is a muralist, painter, and draftsman whose fine art has found its way into places near and far. The Gallopalooza Horse which stands across the street from the Frazier — a trompe l’oeil on which both side of Main Street are depicted — was done by his hand. His works belong to the private collections of such luminaries as the late Henry “Hank” Aaron and journalist and former BET anchor Ed Gordon.

For the Frazier, Sweatt has created four murals that honor the history of the West End, choosing subjects who have contributed to that rich history, from Elmer Lucille Allen to Ed Hamilton, Samuel Plato, and Rajon Rondo. The mural also includes short biographical descriptions of the subjects “that offer viewers info to further research the people, places, and things [depicted].”

As for the surface of the painting, Sweatt first applied a white acrylic primer on the wooden panels with a sealant, in order to create a working surface upon which he could later apply black paint to outline his images. Once the primer dried, Sweatt then meticulously rendered the subjects he chose to represent, and added some “fun designs for the kids, thriving painters, and a rectangle and square that invited artists to create their own design and make a contribution to the project.”

But Sweatt chose not to add any color to the canvas himself. Instead, he left all of the “underpainting” for the four murals without color, allowing museum guests and even staff to fill in the white negative spaces with colors of their own choosing.

It was surprising to the author that such a distinguished artist would allow strangers — non-artists — to apply paint to his intricate work. But Sweatt looks at his art from a different perspective. “I am relaxed when others create on my work because I am always open to learning,” he told me. “They may contribute color combinations or a technique that I can utilize. Besides, art is self-expression. We’re all just painting what we like. Again, I am honored to be on the journey.”

Sweatt’s journey includes growing up in Louisville and then spending nine years in the U.S. Army, an experience from which he gained a willingness “to follow and lead people of diverse backgrounds and ethnicities.” As a result, Sweatt tends “to think more universally and globally, constantly looking at the whole picture — revamping, revising, and reflecting on the missions and goals.”

Frazier guests will have time to reflect on Sweatt’s journey when they see his work at West of Ninth. Inspired by the blog created by West Louisville residents Shae and Walt Smith, this exhibition honors the triumphs, remembers the hardships, and acknowledges the challenges experienced by many residents of the nine neighborhoods of West Louisville.

To stay abreast of any upcoming events at the museum, visit the Frazier’s Upcoming Events page.

Brian West
Teaching Artist

Curator’s Corner: Recognition for Those Who Made West of Ninth Happen

As last weekend saw the opening of West of Ninth: Race, Reckoning, and Reconciliation, I just want to take the time to thank everyone who came out to support this important exhibition! While there was an incredible turnout for both the private and community openings, I personally had so much fun greeting people, talking to archaeologists, and working on the Community Art Project with attendees during Saturday’s community opening celebration. If you didn’t make it, don’t fret! The exhibition will be open for a year, closing in September of 2022.

First, thank you to Fifth Third Bank, the presenting sponsor of this exhibition.

Of course, another huge “thank you” is owed to our incredible co-curators, Walt and Shae Smith, whose blog West of Ninth inspired this whole exhibition. Walt and Shae are truly some of my favorite people and it has been a joy to work with them as the exhibition has expanded in scope. They were a constant inspiration and guiding force for the entire process, and I am eternally grateful for their input.

The exhibition is jam-packed with fifty-seven reproductions and 194 original objects, not including all the individual pieces that make up the Breonna Taylor memorial. We would not be able to bring you these incredible stories without such cool objects, so I also want to give a shout-out to the lenders that made this exhibition possible.

We borrowed pieces from several institutions, including the Louisville Urban League, the Kentucky Historical Society, the Filson Historical Society, the Portland Museum, Western Library, and Riverside, the Farnsley-Moremen Landing. We also borrowed from individual lenders who live or have family who live in West Louisville, including Charlene Holloway, Shelly Weaver, Nora Cole, Ed Hamilton, Juanita White, and Ken Clay. We worked closely with Corn Island Archaeology, who not only loaned many items for the exhibition but also gave a presentation and provided interactive activities during our community opening. And one final giant “thank you” to Aron Conaway, Miranda Cisneros, and Amy Davis of the Breonna Taylor memorial crew who spent many hours installing the memorial in the exhibition, just like they had installed it down at Injustice Square Park so many times.

We are honored to host so many important pieces from the history of West Louisville, and excited to share them with all of our visitors.

I’m so proud that we were able to partner with the Courier Journal for the exhibition, as well as for programs surrounding it. The Courier allowed us to use their historic images throughout the exhibition and created a special edition paper featuring their “Beyond Breonna” series from 2020. For the series, which delves into some of the racist systems that have created longstanding disparities between Black and white Louisvillians, the paper was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist. I’m excited that visitors to the exhibition will be able to take this resource home with them to further reflect on these issues. Our responsibility to educate ourselves on issues that affect our neighbors in West Louisville does not stop when we leave the exhibition, or in my case, now that the installation is finished.

I hope that you will make time to come visit West of Ninth: Race, Reckoning, and Reconciliation. I’m incredibly proud of the work that our team has done on this exhibition, with the help of so many others. I am proud that we have been able to introduce you to so many of your neighbors in West Louisville via Walt and Shae’s blog, but to also address some of the historic factors that have contributed to the divide in our city. Many of the histories that you will learn in the exhibition are hard, but it is my hope that by learning these histories and hearing from our neighbors, that we can start to understand how to make changes to improve our community.

Amanda Briede
Curator

Video: Dr. Frank M. Smith Jr. on Elijah Marrs

His picture hangs on the first floor of the Frazier History Museum, in the “Hall of Unsung Kentuckians.”

Elijah Marrs was an educator and a minister, and he served as a Sergeant in the 12th Regiment Heavy Artillery U.S. Colored Troops during the American Civil War. His picture is prominent at the Camp Nelson National Monument in Nicholasville where his story is told as well.

There is so much to his story. Marrs and his brother were the co-founders of the Normal and Theological Institute of Kentucky, a school that would later become Simmons College.

His name is also still associated with churches in Louisville, at least one of which bears his name.

Marrs was born into slavery in Shelby County in 1840.

To help tell the rest of his story, we asked Dr. Frank M. Smith Jr., the executive vice president of Simmons College, to do the honors.

Rachel Platt
Director of Community Engagement

Fall Break Camps This Week!

Are you looking for some last-minute fun for your first through sixth grader this week? This might be your sign, because the Frazier is still taking registrations for our Fall Break Camps!

The camps will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and we’re bringing back our favorite theme, which we normally have as our summer kickoff. That’s right — there will be three extra days of “You Wouldn’t Want to Live In” fun! Our good friend Eric from the Belle of Louisville is coming by Friday to host a game we’ve been excited about for weeks now.

Camps will be small and socially distanced, and they will utilize the same tried-and-true health and safety procedures that have helped us have two successful summers, a Pop-Up Spring Break Camp, and fifteen weeks of NTI From the Frazier.

Spaces are limited so sign up today!

Heather Gotlib
Manager of Youth and Family Programs

Museum Store: Wilderness Trail Barrel Pick

Celebrate Bourbon Month with a Bourbon unlike any other! This Wilderness Trail Barrel Pick, a wheated Bourbon, was selected by some of the great Bourbon palates here at the Frazier — and it is wonderful! Toast to Kentucky’s native spirit with an expression selected by the folks who celebrate Bourbon’s history every day of the year.

Bridging the Divide

Colin Triplett on Resettlement of Afghan Refugees in Louisville

So many of us watched the events in Afghanistan unfold and wondered how we could help.

There is a chance for you to live into the title of a Compassionate City, as Catholic Charities of Louisville and Kentucky Refugee Ministries begin resettling many of those refugees in Louisville in the coming days and months.

It’s work they’ve been doing for decades, with refugees coming from places like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Cuba, and, in the 1970s, Vietnam, just to name a few.

Imagine leaving your country with nothing but the clothes on your back and starting over in a foreign land where you don’t even know the language.

That’s where the kindness of strangers, the compassion in our city can make such a difference to our new neighbors.

Here are the websites for Catholic Charities of Louisville and Kentucky Refugee Ministries, which have information about ways you can help and items they need to get families started.

I also interviewed Colin Triplett, the director of migration and refugee services at Catholic Charities, about what the organization does — and what you can do, as well.

Rachel Platt
Director of Community Engagement